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When I was driving limousines I would always indicate, on the way from the airport to the casino/s, that tipping me would be completely acceptable and I would thank the passengers for demonstrating that they enjoyed the comfortable and safe drive, by tippng me. On the way back FROM the casino/s to the airport, I wouldn't bother so much with enthusing about a tip because most of the passengers had given all their money to the casino. By the way, as a Gold Coast Limousine driver working 12 hour shifts, I was being paid percentages of drive costs and received the equivalent of $10.59/ hour (2010).

We owned/operated a coffee shop for five years. An American tourist commented on the high cost of food in Australia. I said it was because of our minimum wages, so the poor people aren't all that poor. She said "That's a good idea" I would not like to see our system change except for Sundays and Public Holidays where wages are a problem. Our busy Sundays eventually convinced us to sell up.

No, You give a noncompulsory tip when you receive good service but to make it an obligation gets confusing and not easy if you are away for business in terms of reimbursements etc. We atready pay top dollar to eat out and this covers wages of the workers to add a tip on would make it very unaffordable.

Non compulsory tipping is not bad, it does not hurt to show ones thankfulness for service. I would hate to see our service staff in situations like the US where the minimum wages in many parts of the US is as little as $3 an hour.

I will never embrace tipping in Australia, it was one of the most frustrating things to deal with in America. For starters it favours attractive people as most guys will tip a pretty girl higher and more consistently, it puts the onus on the customer to essentially pay a portion of the staff's wages directly (Yeah that works really well) and leads to passive aggressive behaviour from staff if you "don't tip high enough".